There’s a show for the whole family to watch. Just mother nature at work… it is an educational experience.
Mountain lions are one animal that are quick to show the realities of what goes on out in the wild. They are elusive and like to go unseen until they are on the back of their prey, biting down hard on the throat for a kill. Most creatures don’t know they are even there until it is too late.
Being a 175-pound animal, it isn’t easy to be that quiet and effective. But mountain lions have a unique skillset for hunting. They can climb in trees with ease using their razor sharp claws. Their hind legs are built with power for jumping and running. They hit their prey with power and go straight for the kill zone wasting no time. Usually mountain lions hang out in areas where there are lots of deer or elk, but they will eat anything if they need to, including farm animals, pets, and even smaller critters.
This mountain lion had a nasty leg injury that was preventing it from hunting its normal large prey like deer. So, it switched its efforts to something a little smaller, and raccoon got added to the menu.
This family looked out their back window in Carbondale, Colorado, and saw a mountain lion pinning down a raccoon as it fights for its life. That caption from Nature Is Metal explains further why this is fairly out of the ordinary for a mountain lion:
“The injury to the cougar’s leg explains it all. In its compromised physical state, this mountain lion is unable to chase down and subdue its preferred prey – which is deer and elk. Securing these larger meals requires significant energy and physical prowess, and since this cat is down to 3 out of 4 fully functioning pins, the standard for what passes as a meal must be lowered.”
What an incredible encounter… and unfortunately for the danger kitty, the wound to its leg looks pretty severe, but nevertheless, these predators will do whatever it takes to survive.
